Gita Satsangh: Swami Dayananda: Part I: Gita Chapter VII Verses 20 to 23

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Namaste:

 

Poojya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

studied under the guidance of Swami Chinmayanandaji and he is a great

Vedantin. Swamiji's commentary and explanation are from the Advaita

Philosophical point of view. Let me take this opportunity to thank

Swamiji for granting permission to post his Homestudy Gita Notes to

the list. The Gita Homestudy Gita Notes along with chanting of the

entire Gita verses are available at

Arshavidyagurukulam.(.http://www.arshavidya.org/)

 

Part I: Gita Chapter VII Verses 20 to 23

 

DESIRES ROB ONE OF DISCRIMINATION

Hrta-jnanah — are those whose discrimination is robbed away. Hrta

means robbed, taken away, and what is robbed is jnana, discrimination.

If they do not have discrimination between atma, and anatma, what they

want will not be very clear to them.

How have they been robbed of their discrimination? Kamaih taih taih —

by those desires. Because desires differ from person to person, the

plural is used here. Each person has his own unique desires and by

those he is robbed of his discrimination. Without an object you cannot

have a desire. So, Sankara says here that their discrimination is

robbed away by objects like son, wealth, heaven and so on

—putra-pasu-svargadi visayaih. Putra is son. If one has money, one

wants a heir. If he has no money, even though he has nothing to give,

he still wants a son. Perhaps the hope is that the son will improve

his lot. Each one wants to continue to live in the form of his son. A

man also wants a son to continue the family name. And every woman has

an inbuilt desire to have a child because there is a natural

fulfilment there. If she chooses not to, it is because of other

problems. In Indian society there is also a religious reason to have a

son. Only a son can perform the funerary rites of a parent. Putra also

stands for kama, all forms of pleasure. This desire for progeny is one

of the most powerful desires and is therefore, mentioned separately.

Pasu, cattle, is the symbol for all forms of wealth. In an

agricultural society, the number of cattle a person had indicated the

amount of land he owned. Svarga is heaven. The word adi meaning etc.,

indicates power, fame, and so on.

By these various objects of desire, people are hrta-jnanas, those who

are robbed of their discrimination. Because of the predominance of the

desires for various things, discrimination between atma, and anatma,

or between nitya and anitya does not arise in such people. They are

too busy fulfilling their desires.

THEY IMPLORE OTHER GODS

Anya-devatah prapadyante — they propitiate other devatas. In doing so,

they meet with a number of obstructions. To ward these off and enhance

the results of their efforts, they invoke Isvara in the form of

different devatas. They implore – prapadyante, other gods –

anya-devatas. There are prayers to invoke a specific devata for a

specific result and for certain results there are certain specified

rituals. So, to fulfil their desires they invoke various other

devatas.

All the devatas they worship are looked upon as other than atma, which

is Vasudeva. They do not think about atma, being Vasudeva and that

they have to gain this knowledge. The desire for knowledge, jijnasa,

does not arise in them.

EACH IS IMPELLED BY HIS OWN DISPOSITION

Driven by their own dispositions — svaya prakrtya niyatah— they

approach other devatas for what they want or they go to deva-loka and

become devatas themselves as a result of their worship. When the same

result can be achieved by worshipping any deity why should one choose

a given deity? It all depends upon his own samskara, tendency. Perhaps

he had worshipped that deity in his previous life, or in this life.

Because of what was done before, certain things attract, certain

things do not. Even though they may not have prejudices against other

deities, still, one attracts. So, they follow that particular form of

worship — all for the fulfilment of their own unique set of desires.

WORSHIP IS ACCORDING TO STIPULATIONS

How do they worship? Following a particular stipulation — tam tam

niyamam asthaya — they invoke a given devata. The repetition, tam tam,

indicates that according to each desire, there is a particular type of

worship available. If one wants a son, he cannot perform a ritual

which is meant to bring rain. He will perform putra-kames¶i, a

particular ritual meant for the birth of a son. There are rules about,

how to perform this ritual, who are the devatas involved, what are the

oblations, what are the mantras, and what are the gifts to be given.

All these are called niyamas, rules. Asthaya means `following these

rules or stipulations.'

Driven by their own disposition, following a particular set of rules,

they worship devatas other than atma, Vasudeva. There is nothing wrong

in this. The only problem is that they are only interested in dharma

or artha or kama. So, it becomes very difficult to see that Vasudeva

is all this. To gain that vision they have to see the limitations of

these desires and pursue the understanding of atma. And for that they

must have nitya-anitya-viveka. The desire for moksa must be there. If

it is not, the desire for dharma, artha and kama loom large in their

minds.

Even Arjuna, up to now, was only interested in dharma-artha-kama. He

became interested in moksa only a few chapters ago, a few hours ago,

perhaps. Since Krsna started talking to him, only an hour or two would

have passed. Before that Arjuna was interested in fighting and in

establishing dharma.

Therefore, robbed of their discrimination by various desires, driven

by their particular disposition, they propitiate different devatas

according to the stipulations. As a result, they don't come to Me.

This applies to all forms of religion where Isvara is other than you.

In the next verse, Lord Krsna says that in whichever form they

worship, in that form I bless them.

yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah sraddhayarcitumicchati

tasya tasyacalam sraddham tameva vidadhamyaham Verse 21

yah yah — whoever; bhaktah — the devotee; yam yam — whichever; tanum —

particular form; sraddhaya — with faith; arcitum — to worship; icchati

— he desires; tasya tasya — for each one of them; tam eva sraddham —

indeed that same sraddha; acalam — unshakeable; vidadhami aham — I

make

Whoever be the devotee and in whichever form (of a devata) he wishes

to worship with faith, indeed that same faith, I make firm for him.

Yah yah bhaktah – whoever be the devotee, whether he be an arta, a

devotee in distress, or an artharthi, someone who wants help for his

accomplishments, yam yam tanum – whichever particular form, sraddhaya

arcitum icchati – he desires to worship with faith, I make that faith

unshakeable — so says Bhagavan. Bhakta here is a person whose primary

concern is fulfilling his desires; but because he has sraddha, he is a

devotee rather than a simple kami. This restricts the meaning of

bhakta to an arta and an artharthi. He will invoke the Lord in a

particular form, tanu, according to his sraddha; but because he does

not see that Vasudeva is everything, he propitiates a particular

aspect of the Lord and performs a specific ritual invoking that form

of devata.

With sraddha he desires to worship, or to praise a particular form of

devata. According to his understanding he may insist that this is the

only form of the Lord or he may accommodate other forms of worship.

THE LORD HIMSELF ESTABLISHES A DEVOTEE'S SRADDHA

The Lord says `tasya acalam sraddham vidadhami aham. The important

thing here is sraddha. Earlier Krsna had said that, the one who has

sraddha gains knowledge of the identity of the individual and Isvara —

sraddhavan labhate jnanam. In this verse he says whatever sraddha he

now has, that, I make it firm, unshakeable, for him — tasya acalam

sraddham vidadhami aham. For the one whose sraddha manifests as a

worship of a particular devata for a particular result, I make his

sraddha firm. How? By giving the results. Suppose someone performs a

particular ritual and he does not get the promised result, then his

sraddha will quickly disappear. I make sure that it does not by giving

the results. They are doing karmas for which results are to be given.

That result I give. Even though they are worshipping only a fraction

of me, even though they don't worship me totally, still I make firm

whatever sraddha they have. I am available in the particular form of

devata that they invoke. No devata is separate from Me but I am more

than these devatas. The difficulty is that these devotees think that

this particular devata is Isvara. But I do not disturb that at all. I

give them results only according to their sraddha. If I were to

interfere and tell them, `I am you,' it would not help because they

are not ready for it. Even if the Lord appears before such people,

they will ask for a promotion. They already have a certain firmness in

their sraddha. I make it more firm by giving the result. This he tells

in the next verse.

sa taya sraddhaya yuktastasyaradhanamihate

labhate ca tatah kaman mayaiva vihitan hi tan Verse 22

There are two different ways of reading the second line of this verse

as given below.

maya eva vihitan hi tan kaman labhate

maya eva vihitan hitan kaman labhatesah — he; taya sraddhaya — with

that faith; yuktah — being endowed; tasya — of that (form of devata);

aradhanam — worship; ihate — he engages in; ca — and; tatah — from

that (worshipped devata);

(1) maya eva — by Me alone; vihitan — ordained; hi —

because/definitely; tan kaman — those objects; labhate — he gains; (2)

maya eva — by Me alone; vihitan — ordained; hitan kaman — those

desired objects; labhate — he gains

Here in the second reading, hitan kaman will mean very desirable

objects.

1. He who, endowed with that faith, engages in worship of that

(devata), gains from that (devata he has worshipped) those objects of

desire that are definitely ordained by me alone.

2. He who, endowed with that faith, engages in worship of that

(devata), gains from that (devata he has worshipped) the very

desirable objects of desire that are ordained by Me.

A DEVOTEE WORSHIPS WITH SRADDHA

Sah yuktah taya sraddhaya — this is a person endowed with sraddha in

the Veda which promises a particular result for a given ritual. A

given means is capable of producing a given result and the connection

between them is permanent. This is the order, the law of karma which

is Isvara. How do we know these various means and ends are connected?

When you perform a ritual, what is its connection to a son, or the

rains, etc.? This connection is revealed in the sastra which is given

by Isvara. Sraddha means the acceptance of that connection. `If I do

this, this will happen. Therefore, I do this.' This is the sraddha of

the person spoken of here. Then he engages in worship of that form of

devata with this sraddha — tasya aradhanam ihate.

HE GETS THE RESULTS FROM ISVARA

Labhate ca tatah kaman — from that devata he gains those objects of

his desire. Kama can mean both the desire and the object of desire.

Here it means the desired objects. Tatah, from that, means from the

devata whom he has worshipped. And Krsna says here that the devata

this person has worshipped is nothing but himself.

The Lord says `maya eva vihitan hi tan — by Me alone the results of

their worship are ordained.' People perform rituals or offer prayers

with sraddha and obtain the results. These results are determined by

Me, the Lord, but they think they come from the devata that they

worshipped. They don't recognise Isvara, but it doesn't matter. The

prayer has given the result, and therefore, the sraddha becomes more

firm. Next time the prayer will be better in order to get a better

result until there is a maturity in the understanding.

The first reading is: tan vihitan kaman labhate hi — they gain those

ends because they are ordained by Me. Here hi means `because.' It is

all arranged by Paramesvara, who is omniscient and therefore, knows

that this karma has precisely this result. Everything that is done is

taken into account; so, we sometimes see different results for the

apparently same action. Two people may perform a ritual,

putra-kames¶i, for the gain of a son. One has a beautiful son who is

very bright and healthy. The other has a son born with poor eyesight.

This means that in the performance of the ritual by the second person,

there was some problem. He did get a son, but there was some omission

or commission in the ritual and the results have to be given only

according to the karma performed. Both of them did the same ritual but

one did it better than the other; so, he gets a better result. Who is

to decide all this? Sankara says here that the one who is omniscient,

the Lord, gives the result.

Hi can also mean definitely. A given means produces a given result and

there are degrees of results because there are variations both in how

the ritual is performed and the person's knowledge of what he is

doing. How much one understands when performing a ritual also

determines the nature of the result. All these conditions, including

his attitude when giving the gifts affect the result. If he had a

sense of loss, that affects the result because one is supposed to give

with a full heart, with the feeling that he could not have given more.

A person's sraddha, his knowledge, and the mode of performance are all

in different degrees, and these determine the result. So, each one

gets exactly what he must. Here hi has the meaning of definitely,

necessarily. These are the meanings if we read the words as follows —

vihitan hi tan. Here the words hi and tan have been read separately as

two words instead of hitan as one word.

In the second reading it is read together as one word — hitan. In that

case the statement would be maya eva vihitan hitan kaman labhate. Here

these results are desirable ends, ends, kamas, that are hita, good for

you — hitan kaman. Sankara cautions here that they are not totally

desirable because kama is never really desirable, hita. Desires and

desired objects which are other than ourselves, are not what is good

for us. They cause pain when they are unfulfilled and even when they

are fulfilled, they ultimately come to an end and cause grief. They

have limitations; so, they are not hita, the most desirable. Krsna

elaborates this in the next verse.

antavattu phalam tesam tadbhavatyalpamedhasam

devan devayajo yanti madbhakta yanti mamapi Verse 23

tu — but; alpamedhasam tesam — of those who have limited

discrimination; tat phalam — that result; antavat — finite (having an

end); bhavati — is; deva-yajah — those who worship the gods; devan —

the gods; yanti — go to; mad-bhaktah — those who worship Me; api —

indeed; mam yanti — reach MeBut for those who have limited

discrimination, that result is finite. Those who worship the gods go

to the gods; those who worship Me go to Me indeed.

FOR THOSE OF LIMITED DISCRIMINATION, THE RESULT IS LIMITED

Tesam alpa-medhasam — alpa means a little, medhas means capacity to

think; so, alpa-medhas is one who has a limited capacity to think, to

inquire. Because they engage in such limited pursuits they are

alpa-medhasah. Here it specifically means the one who has limited

viveka. They do have some viveka because they are devotees. They have

dharma-adharma-viveka and they recognise Isvara in some form. But this

is a limited viveka. For those of alpa-medhas…

Tad phalam antavad bhavati — the result (of all the karmas they do) is

antavat. Antavat means that which has an end. In terms of time there

is an end. Being a result it will definitely perish. In terms of

place, it is finite. Any result that takes you to another place is

limited because in going to one place another is missed. If a person

goes to heaven, he doesn't go to other lokas such as brahma-loka. Even

in heaven, he will occupy a given position and enjoy only the benefits

of that position; so, there is a limitation in terms of what is

enjoyed. Some things are available for enjoyment, some are not. The

degree of pleasure he will experience is again limited because of the

limitation of the body he gets. And whatever be his enjoyment, it is

only for a finite length of time. So, in every respect the result is

antavat, limited. For these people of limited discrimination, the

result of worship is only finite; it has an end.

Devan deva-yajah yanti. Because they worship various devatas or

perform rituals invoking various deities, they are called deva-yajah.

As a result of such worship they go only to those devas, devan yanti.

They go to the world where the particular deity resides and become

devatas, denizens of the heavens etc. If one worships Indra he goes to

indra-loka and becomes another deva in that world. But that deva is

still a jiva.

Heaven is definitely a limited end. And this is the maximum one can

get from karma. There they may find themselves employees in the

palaces of the devas. But the devas themselves look up to Indra who

looks up to Brhaspati who is his guru. These are all places,

positions, and are therefore, upadhis. Therefore, those who experience

them are mere jivas. They have better powers, better sense perception,

and a better capacity to enjoy; but it is all only for a given length

of time. Later Krsna is going to say that when the punya that got them

there is exhausted, they will leave that particular loka and enter

another — ksine punye martya-lokam visanti.

THOSE WHO SEEK ISVARA DIRECTLY GAIN HIM

Mad-bhaktah mam apiyanti — whereas those who seek Me directly come to

Me; they become Me. If they want to know what is Paramesvara, what is

this atma, they become Me because Paramesvara is atma. What was said

before is confirmed here. They become mahatmas, who know that all this

is Vasudeva, vasudevah sarvam. There is only one atma, which is Me and

that they come to recognise as themselves. Thus they come to Me alone.

BOTH MAKE EFFORT; THE RESULT IS VASTLY DIFFERENT

Sankara points out here that even though the effort is the same, there

is a great disparity in the result. Those who pursue the devatas make

effort but they do not seek Me for a result that has no end. Rituals

are fraught with effort, physical, kaya-karma; oral, vacika-karma; and

mental, manasa-karma. One has to gather the materials and then take

great care to perform the ritual properly. Then he has to distribute

wealth. Appropriate mantras are to be chanted and they must also be

done properly. Meditation upon the deity is prescribed and this also

is not easy.

In the seeking of Paramesvara also there is effort. You have to

dedicate yourself to the pursuit of this knowledge and deny yourself

certain pleasures that you might have otherwise enjoyed. Then there is

the study of language, and in earlier times, the study of logic. Today

we assume that you all have some logic from your general education

because for Vedanta, you require a certain intellectual discipline.

Previously it was acquired by the study of logic and grammar. In fact

just the study of Sanskrit grammar develops the capacity to think

properly. All this requires effort. The study of logic, especially, is

most tortuous. It requires a lot of effort. You have to keep track of

everything that was said and learn its jargon. The whole language

changes. To say a pot is filled with water they will say the object

that is conditioned by the word called pot is filled with the thing

which is conditioned by the word water. And filled is neither less nor

more. By the time he completes the statement, it will be in the form

of two paragraphs. This is Indian logic. It is very thorough.

For a ritual you make a lot of effort and to conduct this inquiry you

make a lot of effort. But for the first, you get a limited result and

for the other, the result is limitless; the very seeker is resolved.

What kind of a bargain is this? There is no bargain at all. And for

the viveki, there is no choice either. Only for the aviveki does there

seem to be some choice.